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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27485482">Phcking Christmas Parties.</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefox49/pseuds/firefox49'>firefox49</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkwardness, Christmas Party, First Kiss, Hank and connor are buddies, Holidays, M/M, Mistletoe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:47:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,082</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27485482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefox49/pseuds/firefox49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>God, Gavin hates the precinct Christmas party. But he'll go to prove Nines wrong.</p><p>An early holiday fic because I'm exciteddddd for December ya feel me. Also I am a HOPELESS romantic and awkward mistletoe encounters are my jam.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>138</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>God, Gavin hates the precinct Christmas party. Meaningless socialization and stupid white elephant gifts and obnoxious sweaters. Not to mention the PDA from whatever two officers were together that year. He'd much rather stay in with his cat, watch die hard, and go to bed early on the 23rd, for God's sake.</p><p>"I have noticed that stating one's superiority to a social custom can be indicative of feelings of interpersonal inadequacy," Nines said when he voiced that aloud.</p><p>"Excuse me?"</p><p>"I said, I have noti-"</p><p>"I heard you, asshole. What the hell makes you think I'm intimidated by this group of brown-nosers?"</p><p>"I was simply stating an observation I had made, Detective."</p><p>"We've already discussed just where you can stick your observations. I bet you're going, too, kissass."</p><p>"I was planning to attend, in fact. By my calculations, 92% of the precinct's employees feel the same way. Does going against the grain make you feel safer socially?"</p><p>It was funny. A year ago, a comment like that would have earned someone a punch in the face. Nines had made him go soft. Or patient. He didn't like it either way.</p><p>"Uh huh, real mature. What's your problem, anyway? Why do you even care?"</p><p>"I care about your well-being, Detective. Socialization is very difficult for those who are afraid of vulnerability, but I think it is beneficial to challenge oneself."</p><p>"You know what, have it your way." Gavin threw his hands in the air. "I will go to the fucking party, I will fucking socialize for precisely one hour, and you will shut your fucking mouth about it now and forever more. How does that sound?"</p><p>"Whatever you prefer, Detective."</p><p>"Prick."</p><hr/><p>To be honest, Gavin kind of forgot he made that particular deal on December 5th. On the 23rd, he was joyfully getting ready to go home when he was interrupted.</p><p>"See you at the party tonight, Detective."</p><p>Gavin's stare was blanker than the Word document his case report was supposed to be in just then. Finally, it hit him. Shit.</p><p>"You didn't forget, did you?" Nines' was wearing a stupid grin that made Gavin want to punch it off his stupid face.</p><p>"No, of course I didn't forget. Yeah. See you."</p><p>God damnit.</p><p>"How'd I let him dupe me into this?" He asked his cat when he got home. "What's in it for him, anyway?"</p><p>"Mrrow."</p><p>"Yeah, I know. I shouldn't let him get to me. He just makes my blood boil, ya know?"</p><p>"Prrrr."</p><p>"No, no, not like that, it's just every time I hear his stupid voice I get all fired up. It's annoying as hell."</p><p>No response to that one.</p><p>"Yeah. Not that annoying."</p><p>Noticing and taking delight in the distinct lack of stupid christmas sweaters in his wardrobe, he put on a red knit shirt and hoped it would do. Meatloaf pawed forlornly at his shins as he moved towards the door.</p><p>"Yeah, no, I already fed you. Catch you later, you little bastard."</p><p>When he arrived, Gavin had to admit, Tina had done a classy job with the decorations. He had endured her chattering about it exactly once before he made it clear how little it interested him. But the look on her face then was so disappointed he let her go on for a couple more minutes. There were white paper streamers hung from the ceilings with a sort of charming haphazardness, and white lights glistened their way across the hallways. There was a tree, decorated with various desk ornaments and lost-and-found items, standing in the corner.</p><p>"Gavin!" Tina rushed him. "What do you think?"</p><p>"Not bad at all," he replied. Something about the jovial atmosphere made him relax a little.</p><p>"Nobody expected to see you here," she admitted, "but Nines was convinced you'd show."</p><p>"Was he?" Gavin asked, a tinge of annoyance in his voice.</p><p>"Yeah," Tina shrugged. "I'm glad to see you, though. Did you bring anything for white elephant?"</p><p>"No-ho-ho," Gavin laughed derisively. "Baby steps, Chen."</p><p>She sighed, smiling. "Yeah, fine. Well, go say hi to people, ya Grinch." She shoved him playfully and disappeared between the cubicles.</p><p>Ugh. The socializing part. No doubt Nines knew he was here already, being creepy through the security cameras or something, and was watching him. He could power through this for the sake of the last word.</p><p>Honestly, after about fifteen minutes of wandering between clumps of people, Gavin wasn't even minding the talking anymore. Something, call it alcohol or the Christmas spirit, made him actually care about Sharon's dioramas for once. And Harold's fishing trip. They just seemed so excited talking about it that Gavin couldn't bring himself to not be, too. God, he was such a loser these days.</p><p>"Detective."</p><p>"Hey, Nines." Gavin said without turning around from the punch bar. "You satisfied yet?"</p><p>"You seem to be socializing prolifically, Gavin. I am surprised and impressed."</p><p>"Wow, even your compliments are backhanded," Gavin replied, turning around and raising an eyebrow.</p><p>"You two were <em>made</em> for each other," Hank chimed in from the other side of the table, earning some laughs from Tina and even Connor. Gavin sent him a holly jolly middle finger.</p><p>"Hey, could you and Nines actually grab the second pitcher out of the break room fridge? Please?" Tina chimed in, as if she'd just remembered. She smiled widely.</p><p>"Of course," Nines replied, already walking off.</p><p>"One-man decisions here, I guess," Gavin huffed, following anyway.</p><p>The break room was down a hallway off the bullpen. They walked down it in silence, listening to the music fade and echo across the walls.</p><p>"I guess this is your first Christmas, huh?" Gavin realized.</p><p>"I am not a christian, of course, so the holiday itself does not hold much importance to me, but I do enjoy the atmosphere. The people with whom I have interacted have been on average 31% more pleasant since November 23rd."</p><p>"I guess I've dragged that number down, huh?" Gavin snorted into his cup.</p><p>"No, actually, you've pulled it up," Nines said, matter-of-fact. Gavin wasn't sure how to respond to that. It took him by surprise, really. "It's why I wanted you to come here," he continued as Gavin grabbed the pitcher out of the fridge.</p><p>"What?" He said, stopping.</p><p>"Every time someone mentioned the holidays in conversation, your stress levels went down by an average of 14%. I thought it would be good for you to immerse yourself more in the 'spirit of the season,' as people seem to call it."</p><p>Gavin spun around, blood boiling, pitcher in hand. "What the hell, asshole?"</p><p>"I don't understand. Is there a problem?"</p><p>"I <em>don't</em> need your fucking help, Nines. I can't believe you'd even insult me like this, now especially. Trick me like I'm a fucking toddler who won't eat his veggies. You're not my therapist. You're not my mom. And if you think psychoanalysis is the fastest way to my heart, you're clearly not even my friend, either." He walked past Nines and out of the break room, fuming.</p><p>"Gavin?" Nines called after him, easily matching his stride with his considerably longer legs. Ugh. "I do not understand. What have I done wrong?"</p><p>"Leave me alone," he snapped. "Dunno why she even told both of us to get this damn thing, anyway. Not a two person job. Fuck."</p><p>They rounded the corner, Nines still keeping pace. And as soon as they crossed the threshold back into the bullpen, everyone turned to them and began to laugh.</p><p>What the hell?</p><p>Gavin could feel his face getting red, and he didn't even know what was going on. It was like every nightmare he'd had in middle school. He checked himself. Buttons done, fly zipped, shoes tied. Nothing weird about the pitcher. Hank was roaring with laughter, and Connor had on some weird, stupid, unreadable expression like he always had. He found Tina in the crowd, desperate for a friendly face to tell him what was going on, but she was laughing too, pointing at a spot above his head.</p><p>Attached to the doorway in a place it definitely hadn't been before was a gaudy, glittery clump of fake mistletoe.</p><p>Gavin felt all the blood in his body rush to his head. He was so mad he couldn't see straight. He looked at Nines, who was stock still. Poor bastard would probably need a couple more seconds to Google what mistletoe meant. He stood, raging and frozen in place for a moment, then shoved the pitcher into Nines' hands and stormed out back down the hallway. He heard the pitcher clatter to the ground, punch gushing over the floor. Had he thought straight he would have wondered why Nines' reflexes didn't catch it, but for now he was going to leave out the back entrance, without his coat in a Michigan December, and possibly never come back again. There was an alleyway the back door let out into that would take him back to the main street where he could call a taxi.</p><p>The laughter died down when he turned around and left, and Gavin got some satisfaction in the knowledge that those assholes would have to live with that uncomfortable energy. Not him, no sir. He was going the fuck home and watching Die Hard. Fuck Christmas parties.</p><p>The cold was already bone-deep when he was halfway down the alley. He fought back a shiver, hoping his rage would keep him warm enough not to catch hypothermia before he got a cab. A silhouette appeared between him and the streetlight at the end of the alley. Fuck.</p><p>It was Nines, holding his coat.</p><p>"Leave me the fuck alone, I don't want it," Gavin told him angrily, having to yell a bit over the wind. He was already shivering.</p><p>"Temperatures are below zero degrees celsius, Gavin," Nines insisted, pushing the coat into his arms. Gavin felt his anger be chipped away at. He conceded, pulling the jacket on.</p><p>Gavin shifted in the uncomfortable silence that followed. "You didn't know about that, either, right?"</p><p>"I did not, I assure you."</p><p>"Hmm. Yeah."</p><p>"I believe that was the first time I have failed so greatly to predict an occurrence that my mechanical reflexes lagged at the surprise."</p><p>"So you actually dropped the pitcher?" Gavin asked through a grin.</p><p>"Yes," Nines said, wrinkling his nose. "I rather liked these shoes, too."</p><p>Gavin laughed, now redder from the bitter cold than from anger. "Got your fancy fuckin shoes all sticky. That's kinda funny."</p><p>Nines' LED flashed yellow for a moment, then his lips pressed into a smile as he looked awkwardly down at his shoes. "It is a little bit funny." </p><p>Gavin laughed again. He felt better. They got quiet again, but he noticed he was standing much closer to Nines than he had originally thought. There was maybe eight inches between their chests. He thought maybe he should move back, but Nines was decent cover from the wind and didn't seem to mind. Nines looked down.</p><p>"I want to apologize for my actions. My intention was not to manipulate you. I simply liked seeing you... happy, I suppose."</p><p>Gavin sniffed, looking at Nines' shoulder and shuffling a little closer. For the wind, he assured himself. What normally would have been the sound of Nines' breathing was the faintest whirring of fans, almost like a purr, humming through his chest.</p><p>"No, you," he said distractedly, "what you did was... really nice. I was a dick. I'm sorry too." He looked up, finally, and Nines had a new expression on his face. It was open. His eyes were half-lidded and full to the brim with what Gavin could only describe as emotion, and his lips were barely parted. It just looked open. Not guarded or controlled. It just was.</p><p>That was why Gavin kissed him before he could get the satisfaction of saying the "I forgive you." It was warm and soft and cautious and all Gavin could think was that this was where he wanted to be for the rest of time. The cold could take the rest of him so long as it left him his lips and Nines. When he pulled away, it was only by an inch, because Nines followed him back, wrapping his arms around Gavin's coat and pulling him close. Gavin was just lucid enough to cup Nines' face with his hands, and they stumbled backwards until his back hit the opposite wall and he felt anchored there, like he would never have to leave. It was biting and cold outside but that didn't bother him anymore, now that he was kissing Nines. Gavin kissed him with a ferocity he didn't know he had in him, that flooded him like a shiver and made his heart ache for more. Like he would never get enough.</p><p>"You know, if you're done, socializing, too," Gavin murmured under the wind after what felt like years, "I was gonna go home and watch Die Hard."</p><p>"I have not seen Die Hard." Nines' voice was tinnier when it was this soft, like a voice through an old phone speaker.</p><p>"Well, then, it's decided." Even leaving his place against the wall, he clung to Nines' arm in his winter coat like there was nothing else to cling to as they approached the street to hail a taxi. "And Nines?"</p><p>"Yes, Gavin?"</p><p>"We're not giving them the satisfaction of telling them their stupid prank actually worked, right?"</p><p>"Absolutely not."</p><p>"Good."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The morning after</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A (PG) extension to the first chapter.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Gavin awoke the next morning, it was with a crick in his neck. God damnit, he thought. It was the sunlight that woke him up, which was unusual, because he had blackout curtains in his room. He lifted his head a bit, still bleary-eyed, and noted how much colder the downward side of his face got. He grumbled and put it back down. Better. That's when he noticed a suspiciously arm-shaped weight across his back.</p><p>Oh, shit. He had fallen asleep on the couch with Nines.</p><p>Opening his eyes fully now, wincing as they adjusted to the light, he looked at his decidedly ineffective mattress. Gavin had never had any reason to see Nines in stasis before, but it was... a little creepier than he'd anticipated. He'd had the moment with other, human partners of watching them sleep and marveling at how peaceful they looked, but Nines looked more dead than tranquil. His face wasn't relaxed, but so carefully neutral that Gavin would think he was faking it if it wasn't so characteristically Nines.</p><p>Blinking again, he tried to remember how exactly he'd gotten here. As it came back to him, they had somehow actually just watched the movie. He had enjoyed it, even, Nines pointing out how much more efficient John McClane could have been had he just shot the bad guys and skipped the talking, while Gavin told him to just appreciate the movie while secretly agreeing. Nines was so damn nit-picky. There was something almost cute about it when it wasn't directed at him. And Gavin must have fallen asleep before the movie was over and Nines just... stayed.</p><p>Carefully, he peeled himself off of Nines, silently mourning the loss of warmth, but more grossed out by the fact he'd fallen asleep in his clothes. He didn't actually know how fragile the stasis state was, but he was loathe to disturb him, creepy as he looked. As he looked from a distance, it was almost comical, the serious face on the splayed-out body. At least he didn't sleep like a mummy, Gavin mused as he walked towards the kitchen. The coffee maker was quicker, but boiling a pot of water was quieter and it seemed stupid to risk waking Nines up for something he couldn't even drink himself. So Gavin made the world's quietest cup of coffee, stealing glances back at the sofa while he waited for the water to boil, running the events of the night before through his head over and over. Strangely, the first thing he felt was lucky. Despite how much Nines pissed him off on a regular basis. He turned back to his coffee and felt stupid for smiling.</p><p>"Detective?" came the voice from behind him. When he glanced back, Nines was sitting bolt upright, looking alarmed.</p><p>"Hey, I'm right here," Gavin said. "Don't freak out on me."</p><p>"Ah." Nines replied awkwardly. He smoothed his hair, looking around. "I was careless and neglected to turn on my alert for this morning."</p><p>"You were careless? Must be a cold day in hell." Gavin poured the water through the coffee filter. "Doesn't matter anyway, we're both off today, right?"</p><p>"This is true." He seemed to relax a bit.</p><p>"There's nothing here I can get for you, right? No coffee or anything?"</p><p>"I do not require anything, Detective."</p><p>"Feels like you may as well call me Gavin at this point," he offered, bringing his cup and sitting back on the sofa. He couldn't help but feeling a little weird about it. It had, admittedly, been a while since he'd been in a morning-after type scenario.</p><p>"Gavin," Nines repeated, sounding unsure. Gavin just nodded in response. "Well, Gavin, you did not stay awake for the entire film but I finished it, and despite the numerous plot holes, I can see the appeal. I do not understand why you refer to it as a Christmas movie, however, as it lacks many of the common characteristics--"</p><p>"Oh no," Gavin said, holding up a finger. "We're not having this argument before I've had coffee."</p><p>The corners of Nines' mouth twitched in what Gavin had to believe was a smile. "Very well. I enjoyed it nonetheless."</p><p>Gavin smiled into his mug. "I'm glad."</p><p>Nines stood. "I understand that most people prefer to engage in their morning rituals in solitude. I would not want to intrude on your peace. Gavin."</p><p>"Oh, well," Gavin said, feeling like a cloud had just passed over the sun, "I don't really mind. You know, with certain people."</p><p>Nines' LED flashed yellow, and he didn't reply, just standing there and looking unsure.</p><p>"I mean, you can stay for a bit if you want. I mean, if you're not busy."</p><p>The LED circled blue again, and Gavin saw Nines' brows relax. "I do not have prior commitments today, Gavin." It was the closest thing Gavin had seen to relief on him, and it was all he needed for the rest of his life, he thought.</p><p>Gavin grinned and pulled him in for a kiss. "Then stay."</p>
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